Songs of Gold and Silver (Folktales of Chinese minorities 6. - Miao)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. First up are the minority peoples who live in China. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Butterfly ​Mother 

Miao (Hmong) Creation Epics from Guizhou, China

Mark Bender

Hackett, 2006.

This book contains five Miao creation epics, unfolding a fascinating mythical landscape.

The Miao are an ethnicity of about 12 million, out of which more than 9 million live in China as one of the 55 officially recognized minorities. They are divided into various subgroups, all with their own names. The introduction to the book gives a detailed description of Miao culture, customs and oral tradition (as well as a look at other epics from China). Since the Miao language did not have a written version until 1945, the oral tradition continued strong well into the 20th century. The texts in the book were collected in the 1950s, then, after a hiatus for political reasons, collection started again in the 1980s. 

The sung epics in the book are usually performed as a collaboration between two (or two pairs of) story-singers. It's a playful contest, in which one side sings part of the epic then poses a question. The other side has to answer the question with the appropriate verses, then pose a question of their own ("And then who helped them?"; "What was the house built from?" etc.). If someone cannot answer the question, they are ridiculed for it; epic-singing is a challenge of creativity and knowledge. Singers (such as Jin Dan, one of the collectors and co-authors of the book) spend their life collecting new questions and answers, and adding them to their repertoire. In addition they also collect "song flowers", lyrical elaborations that can be used to expand and color the epic song's "bones". Sadly, only a few of these were included in the book, because otherwise the texts would have been too long.

The introduction also talks about how epics are shaped by collection, translation, and editing. None of the five epics included are usually performed this completely: the collectors gathered versions of them from various singers, and then assembled a full series of questions and verses to make a "master text" (since every singer has their own, different set of collected questions and verses). Singing one of these full texts could take up to ten days, although in reality it is not rare for singers to compete for three full days. They often go seeking competition in other towns, challenging each other in song. It is amazing how well-practiced singer pairs can perform together flawlessly, and how the two sides negotiate which epic to sing - in song. Only one of these sung negotiation "preludes" is included in the book, but it was a fascinating read.

"A sung word is worth a hundred spoken", claims the Miao wisdom. But even so, reading these epics was still an amazing experience.

(You can watch a short video about the singing tradition here)

Highlights

Since five epics are features in the book, and all were very unique, I decided to count all of them as highlights.

The Song of Gold and Silver was about the origin of metals and the forging of heavenly bodies (the Miao are famous for their metalwork). The metals appeared as living beings who grew up, married, traveled, etc. The song begins with the old times, when Earth and Sky were stuck together, and the Sky had to be raised onto pillars to create space. The metals, born from broken rocks, were cleaned and suckled by Grandma No, gaining their unique colors. Later they all married: Silver married Borax (which is used for cleaning it), Gold married Water Chestnut, Tin married Pine Resin, Iron married Bellows, etc. Later the metals fled towards the East (the ancestral home of the Miao), hiding in water and rocks, but they were found and brought back eventually, to be used for making suns and moons. The process was described in great detail; 12 suns and 12 moons were forged, transported, and fastened to the sky. Along the way stars and many other objects and creatures were also born from extra pieces and discarded tools. In the end, since 24 heavenly bodies gave too much heat, a hero named Hsang Sa shot down 22 of them, leaving only one sun and one moon in the sky.

The Song of the Ancient Sweet Gum was also a creation myth. Here the seeds of various trees and plants lived together in a house, until the house burned down. They also fled to the East, but were brought back by the hero Xang Liang, who cultivated the land and planted the seeds. The whole epic was full of practical information about agriculture. In the end, a great old sweet gum tree was accused (falsely) of stealing fish, and cut down; all parts of the tree turned into various beings, such as Butterfly Mother from the next song.

One of the most interesting moments of the epic was about a rock that was used to make paper. Tired of continually being beaten, the rock ate up all the paper - explaining why the Miao did not have a written language for centuries. 

The Song of Butterfly Mother is an epic of special importance, usually performed by experts during ancestor sacrifice rituals. Butterfly Mother, born from the Ancient Sweet Gum, grows pregnant from Water Foam, and lays twelve eggs. The eggs are hatched by the mythical Ji Wi bird (also born from the tree). One of the twelve children is Jang Vang, the ancestor of humanity, while the others include Thunder God, Water Dragon, snake, tiger, and elephant. Their umbilical cords are cut, and turn into various things: Jang Vang's into rice, the dragon's into a turtle, etc. Dragon's cord is cut with copper, which is why dragons are afraid of copper to this day. The pieces of eggs turn into clouds and other phenomena. The rest of the epic details the birth of tools and rituals needed for ancestor sacrifice.

The Great Flood is a flood epic not unlike many others around the world. It is preceded by the animosity between Jang Vang and Thunder God. Jang Vang survives in a large gourd along with his sister, whom he has to marry to repopulate the earth. The issue of sibling incest is debated in great detail. In the end, it turns out to be the wrong choice: instead of a baby, a ball of flesh is born, which Jang Vang cuts up, creating various ethnic groups. (The collectors did not publish the details, afraid to offend anyone; they only say the Han were made form the flesh, and the Miao were made from the bones.)

Westwards, Upriver is more historical legend than creation myth: it details the migration of the Miao from their ancestral home in the East to where they live now. On the way they encounter and overcome various obstacles (such as a dragon, a giant toad, and a giant eagle), although some of them are created by their own thoughtless behavior. One important character in the story is the magpie who scouts ahead to find good land, and the Ant King, who teaches the Miao how to walk in single file.

Who's next?

The Hakka people

Read more Uighur folktales (Folktales of Chinese minorities 5. - Uighurs)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. First up are the minority peoples who live in China. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Uighur Stories From Along the Silk Road
Cuiyi Wei Karl W. Lukert
University Press of America, 1998.

The Uighurs are a Turkic ethnic group of about 13,5 million, out of which approximately 12,5 million live in China's Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomus Region (both the people and the region have been featured in the news a lot lately, for lamentable reasons). The book's diplomatic introduction talks about the intersection of folklore and politics even in 1998. By the way, one of the authors is the same as in the Hui volume two weeks ago, so the structure is very similar too: the introduction lists the "evolutionary phases" of Uighur culture, from hunter-gatherers to the 20th century, and each story comes with comments about which era is reflected in it. After the Introduction we get a chapter of black-and-white photos introducing Uighur culture. The tales are organized into chapters by theme (origin stories, winning the bride, wisdom tales, etc.). At the end of each chapter we get notes with the sources of the stories, and comments on their most interesting parts. The book comes with an extensive glossary and bibliography.

Once again, there were many amazing stories in this volume, so I added it to the list of my all-time favorites. You'll see why.

Highlights

One of my favorite tales in the book was The wisdom of a craftsman who made his three sons choose three professions (so they became a painter, a musician, and an excavator), and then made them teach their skills to each other. When the eldest fell in love with a princess whose father jealously guarded her, they used their skills together to help her sneak out, and eventually marry her love. The other big highlight was Courageous Daughter, the main reason I bought this book. It's a story about a brave girl who sets out on an adventure to find a cure for her father's blindness; she rides a dragon, visits Rome, and even rescues a princess in the end. Instant favorite.

Many of the other stories featured brave, capable women too, which made me very happy. The nine daughters of Afrat Khan inherited their father's kingdom after he and his sons died in battle; one girl became khan, another first minister, two captains of the palace guards, four military commanders, and one became the defender of the kingdom. When they were attacked by a neighboring khan, they recruited the help of the Queen of the Desert, and summoned the desert sands with magic to protect their people. Pir Chengi was a famous singer who won immortality with her songs; when she discovered that demons who torture human souls can't stand music, she started spending her time in graveyards, singing for the dead to bring them peace. Nazugum, My Slender Girl, was also a singer, executed by the Manchu government, but still famous for her songs of freedom.

Among the origin legends the most interesting was that of Bögü Khan. It would fit any sci-fi story: a shining dome rose from the earth, with music emanating from it; a door appeared, and inside the dome people found five babies in five rooms, with "hanging nipples" in their mouth. The Uighurs raised them, and the youngest, Bögü Khan, became a famous conqueror and ruler. 

The tale of Hasan and Husan was a story of friendship between two young merchants. When one of them fell in love with a girl and a cruel king wanted to take her from him, his friend infiltrated the royal court as a minister, and helped the lovers get away. The story of the widow's son was about a bald boy who gained the magic ability of talking to herbs, and used it to save people during a pandemic (and grow his own hair back).

Among the trickster tales my favorite was the one where a king paid a man for his watermelons by saying "excellent" three times - after which the man used the three exclamations to pay at a restaurant. Good moral for people who want to pay artists in exposure. There was a similarly modern moral to the tale where a married couple interrupted everyone with "I knew that already!". In the end, they did not listen to all the instructions about using a magic flying coat properly, and the husband floated off into the distance.

Connections

Among the creation stories where was a familiar legend about bringing soil up from the bottom of the ocean. Here the hero was the fish hawk, who risked his own life to help the animals create dry land. The origin of flies was explained by one of those stories where the hero's sister turns into a monster (in this case, a werewolf). After she was burned, her ashes turned into blood-sucking insects. The legend of the Seven Sleepers originated from the Muslim tradition, while the tragic love story of Pharhat (Farhat) and Shirin probably migrated from Persian lore; both were featured in the book in multiple versions.

I have encountered the magic well of youth in stories before, where someone drank too much and ended up as a baby. This Uighur version was very colorful and enchanting (even though the ending was pretty dark). There was also once again a vengeful cat who peed on the fireplace, sending a girl on a quest for fire and bringing a monster to their doorstep (Chin Timur Batur). I happily encountered a new version of the capable woman who is forced to marry a poor man, but turns their luck around with hard work; and also the father who promises buried treasure to his sons to make them dig up the garden. It was fun to read another version of the three golden dolls as well, which is a fan favorite among storytellers (even though the third doll was not a storyteller in this case, just a gossip.)

There were other familiar tale types in the book: Puss in Boots (Amitek and the fox), magic bird heart (The chicken that laid golden eggs - here combined with a Polyphemus story), animal groom (The foal king), animal bride (Monkey Girl), woman seeking her husband (The dragon man - here the woman learned magic from a goddess, and used it during the magic flight). Shawdon, the fisherman's son was a version of the "hide-and-seek" folktale, with an interesing twist in the end: the hero did not marry the princess he'd won. He just wanted to stop her from killing any more of the suitors.

There were many familiar stories among the trickster tales too. A jester shared his punishment with a corrupt minister. Among the animals there was a clever hare (who tricked a tiger), and a wily fox (who tricked a wolf, and tried to create fights among peaceful animals). The main trickster figure, however, was Ephendi - the title the tellers use to refer to Hodja Nasreddin. He got a whole chapter to himself. There were many familiar stories in it, and several funny one-liners. He even took on some modern themes: in one story he made fun of the mandatory honoring of the image of Chairman Mao. Another modern trickster was Hisamidin, a 20th century uighur humorist.

Who's next?
The Miao people.

The beauty of kindness (Folktales of Chinese minorities 4. - Manchu)

A Népmesék nyomában a világ körül kihívás folytatásaként belevágtam a kisebbségek és bennszülött népek meséibe. Elsőként a kínai kisebbségek kerülnek sorra. A korábbi bejegyzéseket itt találjátok, a Facebookon pedig itt követhetitek nyomon a sorozatot.

The Volume of Manchu 

Classical myths of China's 56 ethnic groups

Li Xueqin & Pan Shouyong 

New Buds Publishing House, 2013.

This book is part of a 12 volume series that features myths from all 56 ethnic groups in China (I will probably read more volumes for the challenge later). It is a thin, richly and gorgeously illustrated book that contains six stories. The short introduction talks about the cultural importance of myths, and the opportunity of the series to introduce them to young Chinese and English-speaking readers. At the end of the volume we get a short chapter and pictures on Manchu culture and history. 

Highlights

Since there are only six stories in the book, all of them very beautiful, I decided to consider all of them highlights.

The most beautiful tale in the book was The Forest of Happiness, in which a mute, lonely girl fell in love with a kind huntsman. When people's gossip tore them apart, the young man found his lover again with the help of a magpie. Kind magpies also starred in the tale Weaver Girls, where two birds transformed into humans to help out a poor old woman. 

The origin story of the wula sedge was a sad tale about a boy who sacrificed himself to save his younger brother from freezing to death. From his grave grew the sedge that can be woven into warm shoes. Similarly sad but beautiful was the legend of Echoing Waters, in which a father mourning his daughter filled the rivers with heartbreaking song.

The legend of the fairies of Mount Changbai was the origin story of the Manchu people. A heavenly fairy descended to earth, ate a berry and got pregnant, so she decided to stay and raise her son alone. He eventually became the ancestor of the Manchu, in the area north of Mt. Changbai where their original home was.

The story of Lady Red Silk took an unexpected turn. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, who also made herself gorgeous clothes from feathers. She asked all of her suitors what the most precious thing in the world was, and since no one answered correctly (a prince, for example, said power), she continued living happily alone by a lake.

Who's next?

The Uighurs

Falling in love with Hui folktales (Folktales of Chinese minorities 3. - Hui)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. First up are the minority peoples who live in China. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Mythology ​and Folklore of the Hui, A Muslim Chinese People

Shujiang Li & Karl W. Luckert  

State University of New York Press, 1994.

The Hui are a minority group defined by their Muslim religion; they number approximately ten million. However, sometimes the name Hui is used for other Muslim ethnicities in China (e.g. the Salar, Dongxiang, or Bonan people). Although this group is defined based on religion, they are still officially an ethnic minority (because the People's Republic of China organizes everything in non-religious terms). I learned all this from the book's detailed Introduction, along with the history of the Hui from the earliest hunter-gatherer times all the way to the 1990s. The authors even noted which eras are reflected in which folktales throughout the book. After the Introduction there is a chapter of more than 70 photos with comments, illustrating Hui life and culture. 

Each tale comes with footnotes, as well as information about the source, the name of the teller, and the name of the collector. There are more than 100 stories included, organized into thematic chapters (such as animal tales, origin stories, tricksters and fools, etc.). I am still at the beginning of this reading challenge, but I already have a new instant favorite.

Highlights

There were so many fascinating tales in this book, I don't even know where to start. This is gonna be a long post...

There was an exciting legend about How Adang brought fire to the people. I love fire theft tales, and this one had a lot of great elements, including the part where people first encountered fire during a volcanic eruption, and Adang taming the first wild horse. The story of Bogota Mountain was also connected to origins: a shepherd acquired a magic Mountain Raising Peach and a Mountain Propping Stone, which he could use to lift a mountain and get under it to seek agricultural treasures. I loved the origin legend of Yanqi horses, which featured a brave young man who lured a dragon stallion out of a pond to start a bloodline with his mares. He was helped by the wisdom and support of his home town's diverse community: Mongol, Kazakh, Uighur and Hui elders gave him good advice on how to succeed.

Of course there were several dragon stories. Lilang and the dragon was about a selfish dragon who would only bring rain in exchange for copious gifts (such as asking for pork from a Muslim village). The clever hero and the villagers managed to trap the dragon and forced it to change his ways. The legend of the North Pagoda was about a dragon king's fight against his own troublesome son, and featured all kinds of exciting magic items.

I shed some tears over the tale of the Number One Scholar Pines: two brothers were too poor to attend school, so they studied in secret; when they were banned from doing so, they both died from heartbreak. After their death, however, they returned to take the state exams, and brought much pride to their grieving family. I also adored the legend where the Hui army decided to go around a valley where skylarks were nesting - and they have been friendly with the birds ever since. The most beautiful origin story, however, was that of the Winding river. It was about a soldier who deserted the army of Genghis Khan and joined the refugees to live a more peaceful life. In the end, he even sacrificed his life for the community.

This was not the only tale that highlighted the virtue of selflessness. I also loved the beautiful legend of The Phoenix and her city about Yinchuan, in which a phoenix turned a desert into fertile land, and turned herself into a city and a river to keep her people safe. In the story of the Rhinoceros Care an immortal exiled from Heaven atoned for his mistakes with the help of his children, a hero named Naxigaer gave his life to save people from an earthquake, and the wise doctor Ma Ahong used his medical knowledge to help a young couple elope together.

I especially liked the moral of Abudu and the devil, where the hero could only defeat evil when he was fighting for his community. When he tried to repeat the victory for selfish reasons, he failed. Another touching legend repeated this sentiment, explaining why the Hui hang teapots in their doorways on special occasions. It was about a window who gave up her own life by passing the protective sign to her neighbors.

The story of the golden pheasant was a classic monster-killing tale, while in Xueda and Yinlin two heroes, a boy and a girl set out to find two components of a cure that could save their people. There was also a story that explained how a servant from the heavens taught people about the benefits of tea.

I loved the tales that featured magic items, such as the Water Pearl ("there are only two real treasures, water and fire"), or the Wind-calming Needle. These items usually looked like ordinary objects, and only those with deep knowledge could recognize their real value.

The book had multiple legends about the famous admiral Zheng He, who lead the Treasure Fleet in the 15th century. I haven't realized until now that he was Hui too.

Connections

There were several variants for the story of Adam and Eve (Adan and Haowa) based on the Quran, and embellished by storytellers. In one it was Adam who picked the fruit; in another everything in the world was created from Adam's life force as it leaked out of his head after an injury. In a third, the 73rd child of the couple (!) flew to the heavens on a dragon to meet Allah. I encountered a legend that also exists in the Hungarian tradition: the first couple first had sex on the ice of a frozen river, which is why women's butts and men's knees are always cold. My favorite, however, was the story where Eve cut up a pink cloud to create the first flowers.

There were multiple cool versions in the book for the tale of the man in search of his luck. In one, Yishima visited the sun's mother and returned with advice on agriculture; in another a man named Musa made the journey and returned wealthy. Horse Brother was a lovely version of the three kidnapped princesses (complete with a cat peeing on fire), the snake box was an Aladdin tale, while Luguma was one of those creepy stories where a hero has to fight his evil, man-eating sister (in this case, she was a black wolf). The golden sparrow was a beautiful tale that reminded me of the Bird of Happiness from Tibet.

There were multiple legends about the emperor Kangxi who visited his Hui subjects in disguise (as many other legendary wise rulers do). When people tried to tell him lies about the Hui, he wanted to see the truth with his own eyes, and in the end it was the gossips who got punished. Another wise ruler was Governor Yimamu, who solved multiple mysterious crimes in clever ways.

One resident trickster was Litte Kalimu, who tricked an evil landlord; another man named Abudu played spectacular pranks on rich people. I was especially happy to encounter a female trickster too, a wise woman called Sailimai, and a version of the classic "hungry clothes" folktale with an unnamed hero.

Who's next?

The Manchu people

StorySpotting: Weather wizards and cloud pirates (New Amsterdam)

StorySpotting is a weekly or kinda-weekly series about folktales, tropes, references, and story motifs that pop up in popular media, from TV shows to video games. Topics are random, depending on what I have watched/played/read recently. Also, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. Be warned!

Where was the story spotted?

New Amsterdam, season 3, episode 11 (Pressure drop)

What happens?

Dr. Iggy Frome, New Amsterdam's resident psychiatrist, runs into an interesting case: a young man who insists that he can control the weather with his mind. A self-proclaimed "weather nerd", Iggy convinces him to get a scan, hoping to find an explanation for the delusion. While waiting for a scan, he jokes that the man either has a tumor, or "he is a tempestarii." When Dr. Kao asks him what those are, he says "medieval wizards who could control the weather."

(Obviously the guy turns out to have a medical condition in the end.)

What's the story?

Let's say up front that Dr. Frome uses the Latin incorrectly: tempestarii is the plural of tempestarius, storm-maker. We know of these strange medieval wizards from the writings of Agobard of Lyon, a 9th century archbishop who wrote a treatise titled "On Hail and Thunder." And no, that's not the title of the next Thor movie.

According to Agobard the people around Lyon claimed that storms, hail and thunder were raised by storm-makers. These wizards were in league by the people of Magonia, a magic land of sky pirates. Magonians sailed in the clouds on their ships, and under the cover of the storms raised by tempestarii they stole the crops from the fields.

While the good archbishop Agobard rails extensively about the stupidity of people who believe such things, I gotta admit I love everything about this. I am predisposed to: weather wizards are an integral part of Hungarian folklore. I blogged about them here but I want to add some more info.

Hungarian weather wizards are called garabonciás, derived from the Italian word for necromancy. They are mortals who gain their magic powers by going to a secret wizard school abroad, usually in Italy or Transylvania (eat your heart out, JK Rowling). After they complete their studies, they all have to sit on a spinning wheel of fortune, and one of them has to fall down and die so the others can gain their powers. 

And you thought your graduation was tough.

Garabonciás wizards most often deal with the weather. They can summon storms just like the tempestarii. They usually wander from village to village, asking for milk, eggs, bread and other simple foods. If people are rude to them, they create a storm to punish them and destroy the crops. In one story, the garabonciás turns eggs into hail, and milk into clouds. They can also travel inside storm clouds or even in whirlwinds. While they sound terrifying, they are actually often helpful: they can protect villages from hail, and deflect magic storms summoned up by witches.

The garabonciás' most common features are his book and his dragon. The latter are usually aquatic creatures that bring storms when they fly up into the sky. Garabonciás use their magic book to summon up these dragons, tame them, and ride them, creating raging storms, lightning, and thunder. People often called storm clouds 'dragon's tail'. Some believed the wizards ride the dragons to Africa, where they sell their cool meat for protection against the heat.

Garabonciás beliefs lived on well into the 20th century. Some famous Hungarian writers and poets - Petőfi Sándor, Csokonai Vitéz Mihály, Jókai Mór - were rumored to have been garabonciás. Also, in the early days of bicycles, people tended to claim anyone riding a strange metal contraption at breakneck speed had to be a garabonciás too. Makes sense to me.

Conclusion

When someone asks you for a cup of milk or a bite of bread, don't refuse them.

Tricksters and inventors (Folktales of Chinese minorities 2. - Zhuang)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. First up are the minority peoples who live in China. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

The Zhuang live in Southern China and other countries of Southeast Asia. They are the largest ethnic minority in China, with almost 20 million people.

At Grandfather's Knee 

Zhuang Folk Tales from Wuming 

Bwz Licuh & Margaret Milliken 

Min zu chu ban she, Peking, 2001.

The stories in this book were collected from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, inhabited by the largest community of Zhuang people (app. 14 million). The tales were written down straight from the oral tradition as part of an international project aiming for the preservation and promotion of minority languages. The storytellers told their tales in front of a live audience, and the collectors preserved some of their interactions with the listeners. The book is trilingual (Zhuang, Chinese, English); every story comes with the name and origin of the teller. The 36 stories are organized into thematic chapters (children's stories, traditional values, battles of wits, etc.), and accompanied by the black-and-white illustrations of a Zhuang artist.

Highlights

There was a lovely story about a stubby tailed carp raised in a barrel by a lonely old woman until it grew so big she had to release it back into the river. People made fun of her for not having children - so ever since her death, Stubby Tail has been returning every year with wind and rain to care for her grave.

In another, more exciting tale a village headman and his son fought two giant serpents that had been living in a temple, demanding pigs and pregnant women to eat.

There was a legend about how the famous engineer Lu Ban invented the saw by observing the legs of grasshoppers and the serrated edge of silvergrass. Another realistic story told of how people learned to make fire by hitting rocks together. One legend claimed rice used to come to people's houses when it was ripe - until the first farmer's wife chased it away because she was not finished cleaning yet. Ever since then, people have to go to the fields to harvest the rice. The best origin story, however, was that of the dung beetle: the Jade Emperor sent the beetle to the people with a message that they should eat once every thee days. The poor beetle got the message mixed up and told us to eat three times a day instead. Ever since then, it's his job to clean up the excess excrement. Yikes.

Zhuang wedding, image from here

Connections

The tale type of the fairies' gift here was combined with the story of someone exchanging a useless thing for increasingly more useful ones. It was about two brothers, one mean and one kind. The mean one got his nose stretched out, and his brother erased it back to size... then a little more, so elder brother ended up with no nose whatsoever.

The kind and unkind girls were sisters too; the elders, hard-working sister grew rich, while the youngest, rich sister grew poor, but in the end the kind sister showed her that she could be redeemed through generosity. In another tale the kind brother grew rich because he sold is magically fragrant farts - and when the mean brother tried to repeat the trick, he obviously failed.

There was yet another story about how the animal calendar was created (and why the cat was left out), and also a chain tale with animals passing blame around. The latter ended with the conclusion that everything was the rooster's fault for not helping his wife with the chicks. The judge slapped him, and ever since then the rooster's face has been red.

The resident tricksters were a clever boy named Gam Lo, who answered a greedy mandarin's impossible questions, and a poor man named Gungcei who made a fool out of his rich in-laws in several tales. A third trickster, Lu Sandong lost the battle of wits in the end. There was also a clever servant who solved riddles set by his master - even guessing that the master's head weighed exactly three pounds and six ounces.

Who's next?

The Hui people. 

Getting started on China (Folktales of Chinese minorities 1. - Han)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. First up are the minority peoples who live in China. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Note: I am aware that he Han are not a minority; they are the majority people of China, making up more than 90% of the population. I wanted to start with them anyway, because the book I previously read for China in the challenge did not contain any Han tales at all. 

Chinese Folk Tales

Louise Kuo & Yuan Hsi Kuo

Celestial Arts, 1984.

This book contains Han and minority tales, 35 total, out of which 21 are Han, and the rest are Yao, Zhuang, Mongolian, Tibetan, etc. I will include those in upcoming posts, and in this one I'll be focusing on the Han stories.

I chose this book because many folktale collections reference it, and I came across the title so much it felt like a classic I should read. It has an introduction that talks about Han and minority cultures and storytelling traditions, and every story comes with its own introduction that puts it in cultural and historical context. It mostly treats minorities with respect, although there are some very questionable comments in some of the notes (such as minorities overcoming their "primitive superstitions". Um.). There are a few black and white illustrations.

Highlights

The tale of the first storyteller was an obvious highlight for me. It was about a prince who was born blind and abandoned in the woods. Animals and fairies raised him and taught him the art of storytelling. Later on he refused to return to court, traveling the world instead and sharing pieces of his pipa (lute, see left) with people of other crafts.

The story of the official and the hermit was also quite interesting. They were good friends in their youth, and when they met again many years later,both believed that the other one's profession was more meaningful...

There was also an amusing and clever story about a boy who eavesdropped on the new year offerings and prayers of people, and found out many of them were praying for disaster so that they could grow rich. The boy tricked them all, and publicly shamed them for their greed. In another story a wise magistrate decided an argument about a rich man's will by putting the punctuation in the correct place.

Connections

The role of the clever maiden was played by a clever wife here, while the kind and unkind girls were replaced by kind and cruel women. The latter were rewarded (or punished) by a sparrow. I was also familiar with the story of the blind men and the elephant from India, and the tale of the wise magistrate who gives a poor man the purse a rich man accused him of stealing. There was, once again, a tale about why the sea is salt (because a salt-making magic item sank into it). 

From trickster tales, the story of the ungrateful animal made an appearance, featuring a scholar, a wolf, and a wise old man.

Who's next?

I plan on going by number of population, so the Zhuang people are next.